In the UEFA Champions League, the players of "Real" demonstrated that the era of Josep Guardiola's long-time disciples has passed in both playoff matches showed.
In these matches, the passing of the "city" stars' era was confirmed, and it became evident that the Spanish specialist's efforts to renew the squad by attracting new players starting from January is the most appropriate course of action.
Now Josep Guardiola has to make decisions not only thinking about his team's present but also its future. After these clashes, Pep was forced to acknowledge that the heroics of the stars he had relied on for several years have become a thing of the past, and their era has ended.
Usually, losing against "Real" is not a surprising result for most teams. However, "Manchester City" should not be among those teams. Because Josep Guardiola's disciples are the only team that has achieved a treble and won consecutive English championships.
Now Josep Guardiola faces a challenging task. He needs to form a new team capable of competing for high goals. The current "Manchester City" has become a team that wins as many times as it loses throughout the season.
As the current season comes to an end and the next one begins, "Manchester City" will have more than ten players aged 30 and over. Experts note that the star moments of Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan, and Ederson, who have shone on the world football stage for several years, have come to an end.
Now "Manchester City" is expected to part ways with most of the aging players, including Jack Grealish, who was acquired for a record sum of 100 million pounds in British football. Kyle Walker has already initiated the departure mission. The former captain of the team will not return from "Milan" even after his loan period ends. The club management will open the exit door for the remaining stars one by one.
According to Jeremy Gross, an expert from the portal dailystar.co.uk covering British football, Josep Guardiola will pay even more attention to renewing the squad.
- Guardiola has decided to allocate more playing time to the new players acquired in January, particularly Abduqodir Husanov, Niko Gonzales, Umar Marmush, and Vitor Reis. In fact, three of these players have been starting in recent matches.
Now, central defender Juma Ba, who has been loaned to "Lans," and attacking player Claudio Echeverri, who plays for "River Plate," will also join this group of players.
Josep Guardiola is eagerly awaiting the arrival of Bayer's 21-year-old star Florian Wirtz to the midfield. The transfer of Juventus defender Andre Cambiaso is also planned for the summer, - writes Jeremy Gross.
Pep himself has acknowledged that a period of change has come for the team.
- We used to be a great team, but we are not like that now. Nothing in this world is eternal. Including, there are aging players in our team. Therefore, we have started to renew the squad, - said Josep Guardiola.
Indeed, the coaching staff of "Manchester City" has great confidence in our 20-year-old player Abduqodir Husanov. Our legionnaire, who joined the team a month ago, has celebrated his debut in three major tournaments - the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the UEFA Champions League.
Until the end of the season, Husanov will continue to fight for a place in the top four of the championship alongside his teammates and compete for the main trophy in the FA Cup.
